The Metal-Era Blog

Protect the Building Perimeter Before Severe Weather Hits

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Edge Metal Matters to the Building Perimeter:

  • The roof edge system regularly holds the primary responsibility for securing the perimeter of a roofing membrane, serving as the first line of defense against severe weather events -- from high winds, straight-line winds, derechos, and thunderstorms, and even in some cases resisting the multi-directional winds from tornadoes and hurricanes.

  • It is widely recognized that 60% of roof failures during major wind events begin at the perimeter edge metal

  • If membrane billowing occurs, the edge can often serve as secondary protection against catastrophic roof failure.

If we have not personally experienced catastrophic weather, it may be easy to believe it will never happen to us. Often, high wind is assumed to only occur with isolated tornadoes and infrequent highly damaging hurricanes. 

Many roof warranties exclude tornadoes and hurricanes from their covered events, however, there are many types of severe wind and weather events that can cause substantial damage. The likelihood of a high wind, thunderstorm wind, or hail event occurring is much higher than that of tornadoes or a hurricane in most parts of the country.  
 
Straight-line winds can be produced from a thunderstorm, but have no rotation. If these winds meet or exceed 58 miles per hour, the storm is classified as severe according to the National Weather Service. As shown in the map above, severe weather happens everywhere and frequently. It’s critical to make sure buildings are prepared, and your warranty aligns to protect lives and the property associated. In addition to protecting the building and the employees, building owners, architects, roof consultants, and contractors all can have risk when a building failure occurs within a warranted wind condition.
 
What do you do if you have no warranty in place? Perhaps it has run out, been voided, or you purchased a building with a non-transferrable warranty. These are only a few of the ways a roofing system may leave you vulnerable to damage or worse.
 
Inspections by a trusted resource or certified roof consultant become even more critical in evaluating your level of protection. They may core the roof, infrared scan, visually inspect, or perform a myriad of other scientific processes to determine your level of risk. Often, it’s money well spent before re-roofing, or in the building of a future budget or repair timeline.

When having a roof evaluation done, one item that frequently gets overlooked is the perimeter edge securement. Here are several ways to protect the perimeter edge metal system before severe weather hits:

  1. Inspection of the primary failure point – ensuring the perimeter edge metal is properly secured, especially at the corners, which is a weak spot on the perimeter. Is it loose, bent, missing pieces? Is the membrane stretched, or show any signs of oil canning, or warping of the edge metal? When in doubt, change it out, as it could greatly extend the lifespan of your roof system.

  2. Update your existing perimeter edge metal that may or may not meet building code or current wind resistance standards. Replace it with an FM or ES-1 tested assembly that more effectively secures the membrane system.

  3. Utilize an updated assembly that carries a wind warranty (such as Metal-Era’s Anchor-Tite Fascia or Perma-Tite Gold Coping, which both carry a Lifetime, 215 MPH Wind Warranty).

  4. Metal-Era’s Anchor-Tite extruded assembly is reusable. Using Anchor-Tite allows you to use existing bar and fabricate a new cover for it when you re-roof or re-cover your membrane in the future, transferring the Lifetime, 215 MPH Warranty to your new roof.

  5. Significantly reduce your risk of edge failure by replacing the existing nailer assembly with an upgrade in performance, strength, and durability with Metal-Era’s Eliminailer-T nailer assembly. Eliminailer is the first nailer product to offer peace of mind, as it’s backed by a Lifetime, 215 MPH Wind Warranty.

For any technical questions please contact Metal-Era at 800-558-2162, our team is always happy to help!

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